The View from the Hermitage, Day 82

Older son says that he read the CDC is concerned that, in the wake of the demonstrations, people are forgetting the novel coronavirus. I don't doubt that they are. I actually had to scan the front page of this morning's Washington Post to see where there might be some news of the virus. It may well be, though, that the mass demonstrations that have been occurring nightly for over a week, not to mention the even larger one planned for Washington, DC tomorrow, will bring on a second wave of covid-19 cases. The virus will bump the demonstrations off the front page just as the demonstrations have, for now, bumped the virus onto some inner page(s).

I have mentioned the devil bag. It could use some fine tuning aka tightening of most of the belts to get rid of the holes, but for now it is done. I got a rigid heddle loom for Christmas last year and have finally gotten around to learning to use it. I'm still climbing the hill that is the weaving learning curve. I was perusing the book Time to Weave, and came across the directions for a container made using bias plaited weaving. I've seen these done in paper or the skins of juice boxes, and thought of using my collection of random martial arts belts to make one. This was a good idea only in the sense of stretching myself and giving me practice with the art of patience. Using flexible strips of fabric rather than stiffer pieces of paper made the whole thing multiple times harder.

I started out trying to be too creative with the belts arranged such that there no belt touched another of the same color. Much frustration and profanity later, I took everything apart and started over. The weaving is done using groups of four belts, so I arranged the belts into easily recognizable groups of four. It still took several sessions (I would quit when to continue would have damaged the work-in-progress or myself), and finishing the top took even longer. But I did it. I expect that it will be filled with skeins of yarn when I unpack my yarn stash after the floors have been done.

I just heard from my sister (by other parents) in Maine that He Who Shall Not Be Named is today visiting a plant there that makes swabs for covid-19 testing. She notes that "when the President arrives at the facility, he will not do what EVERY OTHER PERSON WHO ENTERS THE FACILITY MUST DO: don a smock, hairnet, booties, and mask. As a result, every swab produced during the visit will have to be incinerated." It's all about him. Yes, the people who work in that plant deserve to be thanked and their work, applauded. But to then make them throw out however many hundreds or thousands of swabs they make while he is there just belittles their efforts. 

But in smile-worthy news, Muriel Bowser, mayor of Washington, DC, had the street in front of the White House emblazoned with "Black Lives Matter" in bright yellow paint. She also invoked the third amendment to get the National Guard out of the city. The little-known third amendment says that troops cannot be housed in private residences or facilities. In other words, the Guard should not be staying in hotels in the city. Mayor Bowser rocks!

As for the huge demonstration planned for DC tomorrow, let's hope it is not too interesting.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 80

In breaking news, they've charged the other three officers in the George Floyd case and upped the charges against the officer who kept his knee on Mr. Floyd's neck. The district attorney, however, says that getting convictions will not be easy. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? How bad will the demonstrations be if some or all of the officers are acquitted? If so, federal charges on violating Mr. Floyd's civil rights might be possible; I don't know the specifics of the law.

On the coronavirus front, Dr. Fauci says that we might have 100 million doses of a vaccine ready by the end of the year. Interestingly, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 7 in 10 Americans say they would get it if immunizations were free. Turning that around, 3 in 10 say they would not get it. Of that group, 14 percent cited "Don't trust vaccines in general" as the reason why they would not seek out the vaccine. I'd take the vaccine. Shoot, I'd take it even if I had to pay for it. I paid $90some this spring for a typhoid vaccine I ended up not needing since our trip was cancelled. It's good for five years, though, and there may be other trips in that time.

Never having talked with anyone who eschews vaccines, I wonder sometimes why they would not get them. I can somewhat understand the situation with Christian Scientists; it's part of their religion. Are the others conspiracy theorists who see the vaccines as government attempts to tag people? Infect people with a very delayed action something? Vaccines come from science, and science is bad? My dad was a biology teacher, so "science" was never a dirty word in my world. Weighing the consequences of covid-19, measles, pneumonia, etc., I'd rather be vaccinated than come down with whatever the vaccine will protect me from.

The governor gives another virus briefing tomorrow. I've gotten in the habit of watching them even if they sometimes raise my high-to-begin-with blood pressure. I can always be doing something as I listen; the graphics they have are often hard to see anyway. I'm interested in seeing how the gym to which we belong plans to restrict clients on the premises to 30 percent of occupancy, not that I plan to go back to working out there in the near future. The Nordic Track ski machine at the Hermitage is doing just fine. I do occasionally miss working with the trainer I was seeing, but under the state's Phase Two guidelines, a trainer has to stay 10 feet away from a client. I am not bench pressing any amount of weight without the trainer spotting for me.

Day 80. Did I hear an "are we there yet?" from the back seat?

The View from the Hermitage, Day 79

The first hour of the governor's briefing centered on racial inequity without discussing in any detail last night's gathering in Richmond at which, before the stated curfew, the crowd got tear-gassed. Younger son and his domestic partner (I have also called her his spouse-equivalent or plain old daughter-in-law despite the fact that they aren't married at least not as far as I know, but they've been together 11.5 years) were out for a walk and happened by the gathering just before the gas was fired. When they first posted reports on Facebook, I thought they were part of the protest; they say they were just walking. They said that the police chief later said it was three policemen who were not following orders and who would no longer be out on the street working the protests.

And then there was He Who Shall Not Be Named who had the crowds outside the White House flash-banged and tear-gassed so that he could walk across the street for a photo op at the church at which all presidents since James Madison have worshipped at least once. I imagine that the walk through the park and across the street was meant to make up for his hiding in the White House bunker on Friday. Probably playing to his evangelical base, he even held up a Bible as a prop. The Episcopal bishop overseeing the diocese was not pleased.

And there is me, not pleased that the governor is moving most of the state to Phase II of reopening on Friday. I must be looking at different metrics than the governor's office is, because I don't see things improving as much as they do. They have yet to really even meet the conditions the governor laid out when describing how the phases would proceed. Needless to say, the husband knew what the governor had said based on the expletive I shouted at my laptop.

A quickie post, I know, but the afternoon time not spent watching the briefing was spent wrestling with trying to weave a basket out of martial arts belts. Stay tuned tomorrow for details on that.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 78

I liked life better when the pandemic was the lead story and there were no curfews or closed roads into or around cities that burned nightly. A random virus seems easier to fight than the divisiveness that probably has always lay beneath daily concerns but that has been transformed into chaos by He Who Shall Not Be Named. His handling of the pandemic has been bad enough but pales in comparison to his handling of the protests. At least with the virus, there are scientists or doctors I trust--Anthony Fauci, for instance--to guide us. I don't really see someone who I would trust to guide us through the cultural divide that grows wider every day.

The local demonstrations have so far been peaceful. We had our local taste of violent protest on August 12, 2017, after which there has been no need to specify in what state Charlottesville is located. We exist as simply "Charlottesville." I'd like to think that the violence three years ago will act as a shield against violence that might come to pass now. I am probably naive. I did not know demonstrations were occurring locally on Saturday until I saw the Facebook post of a friend going to take part. I must not routinely check the correct news sources to hear of such things before they happened. I would not have gone, though, even had I known about it. Besides the self-quarantining, I have been known to have panic attacks in crowds and do my best to avoid being in them.

The two events--the virus and the racial unrest--are, of course, linked. While George Floyd's murder was undoubtedly the spark, much of the fire since and in other cities has likely been fanned by people venting their frustration over the social restrictions or economic consequences brought on by the virus. Or am I being naive again? I don't want to belittle the George Floyd incident, but there have been too many similar incidents in recent years that led to mass demonstrations but only in the city in which the incident happened. I'm thinking of Freddie Gray in Baltimore in 2015. There were riots, but they did not spread to cities in all 50 states nor did they occur nightly for almost a week.

I find it difficult to wrap my head around the violence, wondering if, in the long run, it does more harm than good. Is it a distraction from the incident that started it? Will it keep us from addressing the issues in a relevant way? Or is my naivety showing one more time?

The View from the Hermitage, Day 77

The novel coronavirus accounts for only one smallish article on the front page of today's Washington Post along with an even smaller article about yesterday's first launch of US astronauts from US soil in nearly 10 years. (The capsule successfully docked at the International Space Station this morning.) Unfortunately, the rest of the front page was nothing but articles on the (quoting from the lead headline) "wave of rage and anguish sweep(ing) U.S. cities." I wish I had profound words to express how sickened I am by all this. I find it hard to comprehend the mindset of people such as the policemen who, with their treatment of George Floyd, set this all off. I use the plural because there is evidently some evidence that Mr. Floyd was killed not by the officer with his knee on his neck but instead by the two officers who sat on his back. Pressure on the two places--neck and back--results in different types of suffocation, and it appears that the type from which Mr. Floyd died was the kind resulting from back pressure on someone lying face down.

Because of how friends become friends, I can't think of anyone I know who would think this is okay. As I write that, however, I am reminded of my father's racism, something that got more extreme as he aged. I wrestle with whether that racism would have led to his taking the life of another person. I would like to think it would not, but I honestly do not know, and this frightens me. I know that attitudes such as racism come from nurture not nature, but I still wonder. It makes me thankful for the people I have met and the experiences I have had that help me keep my faith in human goodness, as unrealistically idealistic that may be.

Closer to home, I have three loaves of bread in the oven. I've made bread for the family for a couple of decades. We do buy bread if life gets in the way of my baking, but then I somewhat miss it. Working the hands kneading, smelling the bread as it bakes. My current go-to recipe is a whole wheat and oatmeal bread from The Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking. That book has several recipes I have tried and liked. It's getting pretty dogeared, though, from frequent perusing if not using.

We went to the park again this Sunday morning. I'm not sure what the dog likes better, the car ride or the walk and different smells once we get there. There was a new Stop sign at the entrance and two people sitting there in lawn chairs (at least six feet apart) reminding people coming in to practice social distancing. We assured them we would and got a thumbs up when we held up the masks we were going to put on before leaving the car. The part of the park where we usually park had one or two more cars than are usually there, but there was still a lot of open space.

While the area around the softball fields was relatively empty, the area near the river was anything but. 

We don't know if the occupants of these cars were using the trail that runs beside the river for quite a distance. They might have been swimming; if so, I hope they stayed safe. Someone drowns in that river just about every year. We did see one car with two kayaks on the roof and another with two canoes, so at least some people were on top of the water rather than in it.

We did not go to the park last Sunday, instead visiting the university cemetery, so I can't say whether the crowds were due to the state's having entered Phase I of reopening or the nicer weather today than last weekend. Older son thought it was Phase I, which led to a rousing discussion of the metrics shown on the state health department's website. Our reading is that the arrows are not going in a direction that suggests Phase I has been a good thing. I can't see the governor pulling the state out of Phase I and back to staying at home; I don't think he has the courage (I really wanted to cite male genitalia here, but decided to stay PG-rated) to do so. I can see, and hope he does as well, extending Phase I for several more weeks. We'll find out on Tuesday or Thursday when he has his pandemic press conferences. In the meantime, I shall enjoy fresh, homemade bread sitting in an Adirondack chair on the front porch while I continue reading John Barry's The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History.